No to the extradition of migrants with no family ties in the country of origin or at risk of economic fragility

Even if the degree of integration achieved in the host country is imperfect, a foreigner without either parental or social ties in his country of origin and where it would be difficult for him to find even a job cannot be extradited. Repatriation would violate his fundamental rights to personal dignity and respect for private and family life, putting him in a worse condition than he was in the host country.

The First Civil Section of the Supreme Court of Cassation, in its Order 29676/2025, clarified that the repatriation of a foreigner cannot be ordered if there are conditions of vulnerability that entail a violation of the fundamental rights to private and family life, protected by Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. In particular, the specific situation must be assessed: in addition to the absence of family and social ties in the country of origin, the possibility of guaranteeing a dignified existence and the risk of irreparable loss of the degree of integration achieved in the country of refuge.

The judges referred to Judgment 4455 /2018, which, on the subject of humanitarian protection, established how the social and family integration achieved in Italy can constitute an autonomous and sufficient reason for the recognition of a residence permit. This decision elevated the level of integration to a relevant criterion for determining a foreigner's vulnerability, suggesting that repatriation could lead to the deprivation of fundamental rights, even beyond the grounds leading to international and subsidiary protection. And the ordinance applies the already established principle that, according to Article 19, paragraph 1.1 of the Consolidated Act on Immigration (Legislative Decree 286/1998), the applicant's specific situation of vulnerability must be assessed, considering the comparison with the country of origin and ascertaining whether repatriation would entail a violation of fundamental rights protected by the ECHR.

In fact, the right to respect for private and family life, one's domicile and correspondence is protected and it is guaranteed that each individual can maintain his or her privacy, family relations, place of residence and communications, even though the State may intervene in specific circumstances, provided that the measures are provided for by law and necessary in a democratic society, for example for national security or the protection of other rights. The ordinance in particular recalls the legislation in force, (especially Article 19 of Legislative Decree 286/1998), in its version prior to the amendments introduced by the Cutro Decree, and highlights the prohibition of expulsion or refoulement to a State if there are reasonable grounds to believe that removal from the national territory entails a violation of fundamental rights.

The assessment of vulnerability must take into account the irreparable loss of established social, family and emotional ties in the host country, even in the case of an imperfect degree of integration, a situation in which a foreign person has begun a process of integration into the society of a country.